Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

As the largest shareholder of International Illusion Company, Hayato naturally knew that International Illusion Company had other businesses besides Card Monsters, such as the sponsorship and distribution of board games like Otogi Ryuji's "Monster Dice". Another example is the recent project to digitize classic board games because of his love for games. The classic board game "Cybernetic Rebels", which was released in the last century, is a new project that was recently finalized.

Although it's only 2007, thanks to Haima Group, a "troublemaker" in the technology field, the technological level in some areas of the market is quite unbalanced, giving people the feeling that it's already 2077. The video game "Dynamic Rebels 2077," adapted from a game, is not only not lagging behind Hayato's memory, but it has also filled in many scrapped designs and defects. Only one classic bug, "Black Dream," which is enough to be recorded in the history of games, was not fixed and was retained at Hayato's strong request.

"Not to mention, how could Johnny, who was killed in an instant just a second ago, be on the helicopter ready to run away, and then be forced to stay and duel by Hammer?" The Silver Princess of the Labyrinth Castle, who had recently watched Hayato finish the "Jack Survival Hidden Story", also chimed in with a comment, "Bro thinks he's Morgan Blackhand."

"Not the Soul Killer part?" Hayato asked with a smile. "When Spider Murphy saw Silver Hand get killed instantly, he kindly left Silver Hand with a digital soul before he died. The megalomaniac could even imagine being taken to Saburo Arasaka for interrogation. He really thought he was some important person who could be received."

While Hayato was chatting with his spirits, several magicians who had received a notification from "helpful citizens" arrived near Hayato. Although they couldn't quite hear what Hayato and his cards were saying, they at least caught keywords like "soul," "torture," and "duel."

The mages gradually surrounded Hayato from all sides. One of them, a female mage who seemed to be the leader, took the initiative to approach Hayato and called out to him from a distance, "Hey you over there, don't you know that spatial magic is prohibited in town?"

"Hmm? Finally, someone with influence has stepped forward." Hayato noticed the unusual situation around him but did not leave. He wanted to wait for someone capable among the native inhabitants of this spirit world to step forward so that he could communicate with them. The pink-haired woman in front of him should be someone with some influence. "I'm sorry, I haven't been here long and I don't know the rules of this world."

“Using spatial teleportation magic here is tantamount to trespassing into the [Magic Academy - Lamaison], which is undoubtedly a declaration of war against us [Magicians]…” After a pause, the pink-haired female mage asked again, “However, 'this world'? Let me confirm the answers to a few questions—Question: Are you from another world?”

“That’s right, but I remember your place is supposed to be ‘Magical Liberalism’? Anyone who wants to come can study magic at the completely open [Magic Academy - Lamaison], right?” Hayato thought for a moment and said with a smile, “But the name ‘Lamaison’ is really interesting. It’s exactly the French word for ‘tower’—the pronunciation of ‘La masion de Dieu’, which can also be translated as ‘House of God’.”

"And that grimoire in your hand... the grimoire of the Law? The law 'Torah' in it, which means 'instruction' in Hebrew, refers to Jewish law."

"You bastard!" The pink-haired female mage, [Magician Juno], who had been exposed on the spot, frowned and looked at the man in front of her. She was already wary because of the strange terms she had heard earlier, and now she was even more vigilant. "I'm asking you a question now, so don't give me any irrelevant information!"

"Question—You from another world, you arrived at [Magic Academy - Lamaison] via spatial teleportation, but we didn't even receive an alarm about the magic barrier being triggered before we received the report. How did you bypass the barrier to enter here!"

Although the Magic Academy - Lamaison is a rather loosely managed institution, as Hayato just mentioned, it is truly open to everyone, even those who can't read. However, this very reason causes them to clash with another organization that, while also extending the benefits of magic to the common people, demands strict control over magic. As a result, the magic barrier is continuously deployed. Yet, Hayato's appearance did not trigger any alarms, even though this barrier is supposed to immediately sound an alarm if any unverified entity appears inside.

"I don't even know where the end of the universe is, how could I possibly know the answer to this question?" Although Hayato could roughly guess that the answer to the question that the other party cared about might be related to the [Summoner-Aleister] who was currently pretending to be dead, the problem was that he didn't actually know the specific situation under the [Magic] worldview.

Although Aray himself certainly knew about his past experiences, he was not very willing to talk about his past, and Hayato never pressed him for details. Therefore, Hayato didn't really know much about the specifics of Aray and the Mages—for example, how exactly was Crowley, the "Magic Codex," locked in the jar, and what his specific relationship with the Mages was.

Yes, [Summoner-Aleister] and [Great Sage of the Codex-Crowley] are beings from the same world as [Magic Academy-Lamaison], which Hayato has arrived at. In other words, Aleister is hiding in the card and refusing to come out because he has returned to his "hometown".

Don't answer questions with questions!

【Magician Juno】seriously said, becoming increasingly wary of Hayato's answer, "From another world, and without explaining how to bypass the barrier... So, my final question—is your reason for coming to this world related to someone who modified themselves, turning themselves into a half-human, half-demon with green and white hair? And that person has the ability to further transform into an even more monstrous demon form? Or even transform again to become even larger?"

Hayato raised an eyebrow, recalled Yubel's appearance, and corrected, "His hair color is half blue and half white, right? Although I'm not really sure what that color should be called, the rest of his hair is definitely like that."

Yubel is a cyborg, looks quite like a demon, and is indeed of the demon race. He can transform into [Yubel - the hated knight], and then into the even larger [Yubel - the extremely sad dragon]... So the person talking about must be Yubel, right?

"Like a man and a woman, like an adult and a child?" [Magician Juno] further confirmed that, although in her opinion, Hayato, who seemed to be a little colorblind or just unable to distinguish colors, had corrected his hair color problem, he had almost admitted the reason or goal for his coming into this world.

"Whether it's like an adult or a child is debatable, but whether it's like a man or a woman is undeniable." After all, the debate about Yubel's specific gender hasn't been resolved even more than a decade after the anime ended. Those who believe she's male and those who believe she's female each have their own reasons, but because it's the world of "Yu-Gi-Oh!", Hayato feels that gender is no longer important.

With three questions to analyze Hayato's background, [Magician Juno] didn't hesitate to call out to her companions, "No mistake! This guy is the one who came looking for that man—the destroyer from beyond the world that was prophesied to appear!"

"I never expected him to have a human form. Appearances can be deceiving, you destroyer of the world!" Among the mages surrounding him from behind, a male mage dressed like an emperor looked at Hayato with disgust, activated his terminal to unleash the power of the magic code, and declared, "You shall be slain by our magic!"

Simultaneously with his actions, the other mages around him also unfolded a book-shaped spellbook, which together emitted light, forming a huge six-pointed star barrier centered on Hayato's feet. Six mages, including [Magician Juno] and the male mage [Magician Royal Warrior Ampour], stood at each corner of the barrier to reinforce it.

Hayato wanted to stop the barrier from completing, but instinctively he didn't sense that the barrier had any harmful effect. Although he was puzzled as to why these [magic] people were suddenly attacking him, he didn't rush to react. Instead, he wanted to see what they were up to.

【The Temple's Water Dispenser】tells Hayato just as the barrier is about to be completed that the barrier seems to have only the ability to dispel otherworldly life or seal otherworldly creatures to prevent them from escaping. If Hayato wants, she can take action at any time and break the barrier effortlessly, which makes Hayato feel more at ease.

After the barrier was completed, the mages did not show any surprise when they saw Hayato inside, who showed no signs of being expelled.

"As expected, those associated with that man are no ordinary troublemakers." [Mage-Ampur] glanced at the spell in the spellbook in his hand, which was already operating at full power. "Even though I've maximized the barrier's special attack against otherworldly life through specialization and self-restriction, I still haven't achieved the desired results."

"It's more accurate to say it's completely ineffective. Although that man is a pretty lousy scumbag, he is, after all, the 'original text' of us [magicians]. The spell created based on the 'code' is expected to be ineffective against his familiars." [Magician Juno] snorted coldly.

"So things have fallen apart already? Given that you can't do anything to me, I can barely forgive your current offensive behavior. After all, what adult would hold a grudge against a child?" Hayato looked at the mages around him, all of whom were members of the [Magic] deck he recognized. Being able to become a card monster at least proved that they had a special status in this world.

While there's a saying that card players use all their memory to memorize strange judgments and all sorts of card effects, in reality, card players can only remember a limited number of cards, limited to those that are powerful enough or have unique enough card art. And coincidentally, the [Magician] deck belongs to the former category.

Specifically, regular [Magic] cards are just so-so, even if you include cards like [Dark Magician] that have "Magic" in their name. But if you have a [Magic] deck with a card like [Magician's Judgment] that's been heavily criticized, then that's a different story.

Back then, it was one of the earliest "super mainstream" decks to rival [Dragon Conqueror]. Anyone who lived through that era would have some impression of [Magician]'s cards—that's why Hayato was able to recognize [Magician Juno] and [Magician Royal Warrior Ampour] at a glance, even before the opponents had introduced themselves.

"And I've also figured it out. You guys don't mistake me for Aleister, do you? You've got it wrong, you've got it wrong. I'm here to save your world out of pure kindness."

At first, Hayato didn't realize what was going on, but combining what he knew about the intricate relationship between the Summoner Aleister and the Sorcerer faction in the story of the card game, as well as the conversation between the two Sorcerers just now, he immediately understood that his answers to the questions had made the other party think that he had come to see Aleister!

What have you done in this world? Just because the person I'm looking for seems to be you, you want to banish me from this world? Unforgivable, Alai!

Chapter 1837 The "Crystallization Master" of Witchcraft

"A mistake?" [Magician Juno] looked at Hayato suspiciously. "Then let me ask you, are you and Aleister in a summoner-summoned relationship? Have you established a fixed summoning method or a master-servant contract?"

"That's true—"

Before Hayato could finish his sentence, [Magician Royal Guardian - Ampire] stated definitively, "Then there's nothing more to say. My eyes are my standard; there's absolutely no possibility of wronging you!"

"Wow, are these two Erdoron?" [Temple's Water Advisor] exclaimed, "They don't listen to any explanations at all, they just keep asking questions?"

"While the [Magician] faction is very open in popularizing magic, beneath this extremely open facade lie strict rules and stubborn prejudices." Hayato frowned, his impression of the [Magician] faction dropping considerably. The rabbit-headed one, preoccupied with strength, was getting a beating from the rationally thinking big head, and the appearances of the people in front of him weren't enough to give the little head the upper hand.

"Since this is your choice, then from this moment on, we have lost any possibility of peace talks. You guys are no ordinary troublemakers; we must strike hard!"

"Hmph, Annie's angry now~" While the other cards at most appeared next to Hayato and said a few words, [Disruption Yellow] seized the opportunity to act tough and jumped out. Taking advantage of Hayato's momentum, she said, "Annie's petty. If you offend him, you're all doomed!"

"Get out of my way!" Hayato kicked [Disruption Yellow] away. Despite its seemingly weak appearance, [Disruption Yellow] actually had 1000 points of defense and was quite durable. Hayato kicked it away and it crashed into [Magician Royal Warrior - Ampour], getting snot and tears all over the other party.

Hayato was annoyed by the fact that several mages had come up to expel him without explanation, and the spellcasters of the mages were equally furious that Hayato seemed to be resisting.

"This guy... actually dared to attack us!?" [Magician Royal Warrior - Ampour] was disgusted by [Disruption Yellow]. In this field, he would call this ugly yellow thing the strongest, but Hayato noticed that even though he was covered in dirt, [Magician Royal Warrior - Ampour] could only rage helplessly and couldn't even brush off the [Disruption Yellow] that was stuck to him.

"I'll hit you whenever I want, do I need to pick a day?"

Hayato shrugged as he looked at [Magician Royal Guardian - Ampire] and his group. "And it seems that in order to strengthen this completely useless barrier as much as possible, you've added a restriction that prevents them from even moving while maintaining the barrier?"

"So what if we are? Do you think we wouldn't have backup plans for this situation?" [Magician Juno] seemed to have used magic to notify someone, with a calm expression—or perhaps it was just because she wasn't the one disgusted by [Disruption Yellow].

"Your attack on [Magic Academy - Lamaison] was very unfortunate; it happened just when we found our allies. Although we had to maintain the barrier and couldn't move, our allies were able to repel you with our help!"

"Because of the last invasion war between Endymion and the Mages, even the neutral magic trading cities were forced to side with us. This time, we have reached an alliance with that famous magic craftsmen's guild and invited the 'master craftsman' among them who has mastered the legendary crystallization technique!"

"Crystallization..." "Master craftsman?"

Upon hearing the other person's words, both Hayato and Alai, who had been feigning death for most of the day, had an image of a certain woman appear in their minds.

Within the magical barrier, a new being quietly appeared: a girl holding a strange staff with a scissor-like end and a white-green sphere floating at the top. Although she appeared calm, anyone could tell that she was putting on a brave face.

His attire was also different from the general impression of a mage. He wore a very fashionable leather jacket, with a gold emblem on his chest that resembled a family crest, featuring an interlocking rock hammer and sewing scissors. He also wore a silk shawl made of gemstone crystals that looked like it was forged from silver, and a small hat on his head that also had a white crystal texture. He looked noble and gorgeous.

(Looking serious, but actually his hands are shaking)

"A sudden emergency distress signal, and I'm even asked to use spatial teleportation magic to get here to [Magic Academy - Lamaison], is too risky. What if [Endymion] notices?"

Upon entering the scene, the "Master Craftsman of Crystallization" expressed his dissatisfaction with a rather firm attitude.

"There's no time to explain, Master Craftsman. The person before you is from another world and is connected to that dangerous man—'The Great Beast'!" [Magician Royal Warrior - Ampour] was the first to speak.

Immediately afterward, [Magician Juno] also called for help: "We have already trapped the opponent with a barrier. Next, we will seal our consciousness to strengthen the barrier's power as much as possible. Please lend us a hand and eliminate this dangerous entity!"

As they spoke, the spellbooks in front of the [Magic] casters all turned a page, adding a new layer of "self-restraint" to the barrier to enhance its power. Although Hayato still didn't feel anything, he figured it must be a very strong effect. After all, how could there be a card in Duel Monsters with such strict self-restraint but a terrible effect?

(Crab Bro: Don't bring up the idea of ​​pre-assembled junk)

"You're just shoving this kind of thing onto me without even knowing it's a deal we just struck..." The person from the magic craftsmen's guild, known as the "Master Craftsman," frowned, seemingly not having a good impression of the [Magician] guild either. He then looked at Hayato's group. "But no matter what, for the sake of our [Witchcraft] reputation, the deal we've already agreed to must be completed. Sorry, but I'll have to defeat you here."

"I thought I was going to be the one to fight 'Divine Judgment,' but in the end it was you [Witchcraft] who got to it..." Hayato looked at the "Crystallization Master" in front of him and complained, "Speaking of which, because I used 'Spatial Teleportation' to appear here, I'm a criminal suspect, but it's allowed for others to use 'Spatial Teleportation' to get here. These guys from [Magic] really have double standards."

"Right, right? Master has complained before that this place has changed a lot—uh, I didn't say anything." Subconsciously, she also complained about the bad impression the [Magician] had given her. Suddenly, "Crystallization Master" realized that this was not the time to talk badly, so she quickly covered her mouth and stopped talking. She waved one hand wildly in the air, trying to make Hayato forget what she had said, and then looked around in a panic.

However, the people of the [Magician] did indeed impose a self-restraint of "closed consciousness" to strengthen the barrier, just as they said, and did not react to the words of the "Crystallization Master Craftsman," which relieved her.

"But speaking of which, are you really from another world? You don't seem as violent as those creatures corrupted by other world magic that I knew before..." Only now did the "Crystallization Master" realize the information revealed in Hayato's words, and she looked at Hayato suspiciously. "And you even know about our [Witchcraft] workshop?"

(Next to Sandriyong)

"Is there only one other world?" Hayato asked casually. "Speaking of the [Witchcraft] workshop, I'm quite curious. Shouldn't 'Master Craftsman' and 'Crystal' be the names of that blue-haired brat old woman who's always slacking off?"

"Old woman? Little devil?" Although he didn't understand some of the words, "Crystallization Master" guessed who he was talking about from other keywords in Hayato's strange address. "Blue hair, slacking off... Oh, you mean Lady Vera!"

“Lady Vera…” Subconsciously, the “Crystal Craftsman” was about to honestly reveal the information, but suddenly realized that the person opposite her, Hayato, was an enemy that the [Magician] had specifically requested her to deal with, having previously traded with [Witchcraft]. Why was she chatting with him here? She quickly put on a stern face and said, “I… I don’t need to tell you Lady Vera’s whereabouts. You just need to know that I’m currently managing the [Witchcraft] workshop.”

(Vera: I'm off with my bucket, Ciallo～(∠＞ω?)⌒★)

"Alright then, I'll call you 'Substitute Witchcraft Master', Heine?"

"Hi... Ugh... Hey hey hey!?"

Subconsciously nodding, the aura that the "Master Crystallizer" had been trying to maintain completely crumbled after realizing what Hayato had said. Even the "Master Crystallizer"—who appeared here as the "Witchcraft Craftsman Tailor Heine" as the "Witchcraft Substitute Master"—had her expression collapse. She was covered in sweat, her mouth twitching, and she said in a panic, "And, why, why do you know my name?!"

(Heine may seem aloof, but he's actually socially awkward. I've been a die-hard fan of Heine for a long time.)

"Does it matter? It doesn't matter. Before that, let's duel." Hayato took out his deck and inserted it into the duel disk. "Although there are many things in this world that interest me, I'm not the kind of person who would forget to do my job. Since friendly contact is ineffective, I can only choose to defeat the whole world by myself and make you cooperate with me."

"That's true!"

Seeing Hayato assume a fighting stance, Heine quickly adjusted his mindset as well. It wasn't out of forced composure, but rather because he was in his area of ​​expertise, that he entered the zone, and his aura became serious and focused.

"I will defeat you, but I will try my best to keep you from getting seriously injured. My intuition tells me that you are not a dangerous person, so after completing the [Magician's] request to 'defeat you,' I will do my best to clear up the misunderstanding between you and the [Magician]."

Hearing Heine's words, Hayato, who had been somewhat annoyed with the world because of the [Magician's] terrible attitude, regained some patience: "Is that so? But actually, their misunderstanding is neither too big nor too small, because I really am related to that man they call 'Aleister'."

"The legendary 'Great Sage of the Codex,' whose magical name is 'The Great Beast,' is Aleister Crowley..." Heine nodded seriously. "It is said that this sage was a partner of Lord Sandriyon, the founder of our 'Witchcraft' workshop. Although he left a bad name in this world because of a series of actions, I still believe that knowing such a person does not mean that you are also a bad person."

"Then, Heine of the [Witchcraft] workshop, in the name of 'Master Craftsman of Crystallization,' would like to seek your guidance."

"Duel!"

[Heine: 4000LP, Hand: 5]

Heine uses her staff, which is placed directly on her left arm to form a duel disk. The curved blade of her tailor's scissors can be used as a surface for placing cards on the duel disk, and the staff, which is originally too long, can be folded and adjusted. The position of the gem can be used to hold the deck.

Hayato nodded and replied amicably, "Kobayashi Hayato is just a duelist passing by. You don't need to remember what I said."

"Since it's a magical world, wouldn't it be better if I used this 'pure magician' deck to deal with you?"

"Duel!"

[Kobayashi Hayato: 4000LP, hand card: 5]

"I'll start the attack! My turn, draw!"

Heine had already drawn five cards before Hayato even spoke, but after everyone started using different Duel Disks in the other world, the advantage of Hayato's specially modified Duel Disk became apparent again. No matter how fast you try to grab the first move with your hand, you can't beat the speed at which the Duel Disk will directly eject the cards to you.

However, Hayato did not try to go first, but instead drew only five cards as his starting hand, watching Heine take the first turn.

Having gained the first turn, Heine drew a card, glanced at it, and temporarily added it to his hand. Then he played a card from his hand and said, "First, I activate the Spell Card [Fusion Troops]. You can only activate one card with this name per turn, and during the turn I activate this card, I cannot Special Summon any monster other than a Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck."

"Under the effect of [Fusion Troops], I reveal one Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck to my opponent and Special Summon that monster’s Fusion Material Monster from my hand and Deck."

(Two banned cards combined to create a low-tier card)

As he spoke, Heine held up a card and showed it to Hayato: "I'm showing you the Fusion Monster 'Three-Eyed Wizard' from my Extra Deck. The Fusion Material Monsters listed on this card are 'Three-Eyed Monster' and 'Black Forest Witch'."